Pink peppercorns seemed like an innocuous ingredient until they almost killed my daughter. I’m so thankful for an Amazon reviewer for solving the mystery for us.
Originally published February 20, 2014
The information about this hidden allergen is extremely important to share among the nut allergic community and I continually thank the Amazon reviewer who solved a mystery for us.
This post about pink peppercorns could very well save many lives; maybe even the life of someone you know.
My daughter has a severe tree nut allergy,* meaning if she ingests any form of tree nuts, she will stop breathing (anaphylaxis) and die. Even a trace could do the deed–it’s that severe.
Discovering that my daughter was allergic to tree nuts (she was 4)
We learned this the hard way when she was four years old. Denisa ate a chocolate Christmas ornament which was filled with a hazelnut paste. I cannot adequately describe to you what it feels like, and the terror that fills every part of your being when you hear your child barely choke out the words, “I can’t breathe”, and to see her gasping for air.
I immediately called 911, and she was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. This was my family’s very first experience with any sort of allergy, and it was life-changing for all of us. Nuts were now a dreaded, dangerous and life-threatening food.
The incident at the restaurant
Fast forward 10 years: on the 4th of July, my daughter was at a restaurant at Disneyland with one of her best friends when I received a phone call from her friend’s mother. She told me that she thought my daughter had ingested some form of tree nuts, and was wondering whether to use the EpiPen (a shot of epinephrine) for her anaphylactic reaction.
Of course, I was petrified, and told her that my daughter had to be the one to make that decision.
Luckily, she ended up getting the nuts out of her system and the use of the EpiPen was averted. I’ve since read several news reports that prove that this doesn’t always happen. Sometimes there’s a death, instead of a happy ending. My daughter was incredibly fortunate.
PRINT THIS FOR TRAVELING WITH NUT ALLERGIES!
A mystery
At this point, the biggest problem was that the chef was baffled as to how this occurred, as he was certain that the Tortellini Alfredo and focaccia were nut-free. It was the only incident in which we had no idea what had caused her reaction. I spoke to the chef the next day, but there was still no luck in deducing what had instigated her anaphylaxis, so we were left with a mystery.
Mystery solved!
About two weeks after this incident, I was browsing peppercorns and pepper blends on Amazon.com, when I clicked on a Four Seasons Pepper Blend, which included pink peppercorns, or pepper berries. The first review caught my eye:
I couldn’t believe what I was reading, and wondered if the chef might have used this pepper blend in the pasta or focaccia that my daughter had eaten. I quickly did some research, and confirmed what the reviewer had posted. Pink peppercorns were in fact related to cashews!
Immediately, I called the restaurant, and began to ask the chef if he used this pepper blend. I hadn’t even finished asking the question, when he exclaimed, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” What a relief to finally know what had caused her reaction.
It’s disconcerting to think that we actually had a pepperberry tree in the backyard of our previous house, and I used to cut the berries and use them for various crafts. This is what the berries look like.
From Wikipedia:
Peruvian pepper (Schinus molle, also known as American pepper, Peruvian peppertree, escobilla, false pepper, molle del Peru, pepper tree, peppercorn tree, Californian pepper tree, pirul and Peruvian mastic.) is an evergreen tree that grows to 15 meters (50 feet). It is native to rhe Peruvian Andes. The bright pink fruits of Schinus molle are often sold as “pink peppercorns” although S. molle is unrelated to true pepper.
This information needs to be spread as widely as possible:
Pink peppercorns, pink pepperberries, pink berries, Peruvian pepper and whatever else they may be called, are related to CASHEWS and can cause an anaphylactic reaction in those who are allergic to CASHEWS/TREE NUTS.
Here’s what you can do to help spread the word:
- Forward this information to anyone you know who has a nut allergy. I have contacted Penzey’s Spices (who have still done nothing to label the warning 5 years later!) and other spice retailers to ask them to place this warning on their labels. If you can do the same thing, changes will happen more quickly, and hopefully avert potentially life-threatening allergic reactions in future (see update below: great news!)
- If you or your child has a nut allergy, make sure to ask at restaurants, at friends’ homes, and wherever your food is prepared if a pepper blend including pink pepper berries has been used. Inform them that the berries are related to tree nuts.
- Contact newspapers, local TV news, etc. to feature articles or segments on this information.
- Spread the info via social media; ask others to share, re-tweet, re-pin, etc.
- Translate the info into other languages, and share outside our borders.
- Pass on the information by word of mouth; you never know whose life you might save.
PLEASE click here to CHECK OUT THIS POST AS I HAVE DISCOVERED MORE HIDDEN ALLERGENS!
My concerns and some points to remember ~
* Many people throw the word “allergy” around loosely. Please be aware of how important it is that this term is used correctly.
It terrifies me that the server who is used to hearing guests order something “on-the-side” due to an “allergy”, notices they ate it anyway. Consequently, they won’t take allergies seriously anymore. Food Babe, who has hundreds and thousands of followers and has written books on the subject of food choices, advises her readers, “Go as far as telling the server you allergic to butter and dairy, soy and corn.”
I, and many others have commented on her post to tell her how this is endangering those who have LIFE-THREATENING allergies which occur within seconds. However, she refuses to remove this wording in her post. In fact, she banned me from her Facebook page when I wrote to tell her the consequences from her advice.
Many people don’t realize that simply touching nuts, and then touching other food is enough to cause anaphylaxis in some allergy sufferers, my daughter included. However, there are others whose allergies are even worse than hers. Think about the nuts being consumed in planes; it’s frightening.
UPDATED 10/19: I flew Norwegian airlines for the first time in June and was horrified at the filthy condition of the floor, including peanuts! I gave them another try this past week and guess what? The same conditions! Do they never clean their planes? This is unacceptable, especially for nut allergy sufferers!
Similarly, there is no barometer to measure or communicate how serious an allergy is. It’s completely open to interpretation. These things directly impact my daughter’s life and so many others’, too.
Finally, please be mindful of the impact that use of the word “allergy” can have.
UPDATE: my daughter attended Villanova University which has a “no nut” policy, which we didn’t discover until after we placed our deposit! I was elated. If you are concerned about your child going off to university with a nut allergy, besides being a top university, Villanova takes allergies extremely seriously. She graduated without an incident at the dining halls and restaurants.
pink peppercorns
I can not thank you enough for this post. Like you I was unaware my child had a severe nut allergy until I was faced with calling 911 to save his life one morning after I made pancakes with almond meal in it. People use and abuse the “allergy” label to justify being a picky eater while I am going from place to place asking about what oil they use to fry food in, do they toast nuts in the oil and on and on. I carry around an epi-pen like I do my phone; never far from my hands. I had NO idea about these peppercorns and truly thank you. We had an incident last week when a BBQ place swore their food was nut free but my son reacted to the bread they severed. Thanks for speaking up!
You are so very welcome, but there is no need to thank me as I’m so elated to hear more and more nut allergy sufferers becoming aware of the pink pepper berries being allergens for them as well. Yes, I’m sure you can relate, when people claim they are “allergic” when all they are is picky…not fair at all, and they jeopardize our children’s lives by doing this. I truly believe that. Good luck to you and I wish your son a nut free future! CC
My daughter (9) is also allergic to tree nuts. She recently had two reactions (severe hives and scratchy throat for her) to what we believe were cherries. Apparently cherries and other stone fruits are related to almonds. She’s heartbroken since she loves cherries, but those reactions were enoug to acare her. The next step for bus is more testing of all stow fruits.
Here’s an interesting fact: almonds are not nuts. As you said, almonds are related to stone fruits, but some nut allergy sufferers are also allergic to almonds, like your daughter. I’m so sorry she is allergic to stone fruits too, if that is truly the case. It is horrible to have an allergy, but so hard especially for kids to have to give up a food they love. Wishing you the best, Christina
Just FYI: Mango is related to cashew as well; the mango seed and the cashew nut are very chemically similar. My 11yo daughter is anaphylactic to cashew and pistachio, and all other tree nuts make her intensely uncomfortable (although she doesn’t, thank goodness, actually stop breathing with those).
Wow, that’s good to know, Jenn! I think my daughter has eaten mango before, but will make sure to tell her this, as it’s better to be safe than sorry! Thank you so much for the information. Good luck to your daughter, and it’s great that other nuts don’t actually make her go into anaphylactic shock. Take care, CC
Thank you for this info. I am passing it onto my sister-in-law who is severely allergic to nuts. I am sorry that you had to find out the hard way, but glad your daughter was able to overcome the incident. I wish all allergens were readily available to consumers on every product, even less common allergens like blue cheese. I know it is a weird allergy but a lot of people who are severely allergic to molds have that allergy and may not even know it. I have to read every box label whenever I go grocery shopping and there is a new product or newer recipe of a product I previously bought because of the blue cheese allergy.
Thank you so much for passing the information on, and for your kind comment. I didn’t even know about mould allergies! Goodness, so many things we don’t know. I agree, I wish it was all there in black and white! Good luck with your allergy and thanks so much for commenting! CC
WOW! Thank you so much for posting!! I’m going to bring this to the Walt Disney World’s special diets attention. They have the best trained chefs on the planet, but some may not know about this.
Thank you so much for posting!
Great idea, Lizzie! Thank you very much, the more chefs know, the less incidences there will be! CC
Thank you for the commentary on the seriousness of allergies. My son is anaphylactic to dairy products – one M&M is deadly. Often when he tells someone that he is allergic, they respond by suggesting he take a lact-aid – clearly not understanding the significance of an allergy vs an intolerance. I will be sharing this forward – good luck.
Yes Lise, it is so difficult sometimes, when people have not had any experience with allergies. Maybe this post will help them to understand it better. I think I get my frustration across. Good luck and thanks for letting me know you’ll be sharing! :) CC
I am also very allergic to milk and as an adult people try to suggest the l act – aid pills, they don’t understand how bad of a reaction it causes.
I know Jessica, if they are uninformed, they just cannot relate to your allergy. Do you explain the difference between an intolerance and an allergy to them? CC
I do try to explain but they still give me a hard time. I’m also very allergic to ginger it turns out. on top of other things. thank you for taking the time to make sure people are informed. I’m a nanny for a family with nut allergies, the mom heard this today, so now she’s going to check to keep her kids safe
I completely understand. Sometimes I feel I get further talking to the wall than some people when explaining things about severe allergies :( Glad you passed on the info for the kids you watch! Every single time someone else learns of this danger, I feel we are potentially saving more lives! Thank you, Jessica!
THANK YOU so very much for this info. I have a 13 year old daughter who is allergic to tree nuts, specifically cashews and pistachios…need to go home and clean out my spices!!! I will be passing the word along as well.
Great, Amy! SO glad you found this post! Make sure to ask at restaurants too. Thanks for commenting and letting me know, I appreciate it! Good luck to you and your daughter! CC
I know what you mean about allergies not being taken seriously — I’m allergic to milk, but all that means is it makes my nose run (and gave me constant ear infections, clogged ears _and a speech impediment due to not hearing properly as a young child) so I usually say “mildly allergic.” And a friend brushed off my daughter’s allergy to fresh ( but not dried or cooked) pineapple as, oh, it made her mouth tingly because it’s acidic. But we take allergies very seriously, or at least ask others how serious it is, b/c I do have friends with severe nut allergies. I’ll definitely pass this info on.
I completely understand, Miriam. What’s really important to realize too, is that sometimes the allergy will worsen with each subsequent exposure. So your daughter’s current allergy to pineapple could get even worse, so why not avoid it and not take a chance. I have had friends question my daughter’s allergy and say things like, “Well, my family doesn’t have any allergies.” as if I requested an allergic child when I was pregnant! Education is key…thanks for spreading the information! CC
I have a similar allergy to mangoes as your daughter has to pineapples. I’m very allergic to the tree (hives upon contact, respiratory reaction just being near), and the skin of the mango contains an oil that triggers my allergy. So if the mango has been peeled and cooked (by someone else, obviously), it doesn’t bother me. The more processed it is, the less I react. The “tingly mouth” is my first warning that something’s not right, and it’s a bad idea to ignore it.